Reissue CDs
Kieron Tyler
Although Dagenham’s Sean Buckley & The Breadcrumbs are less than a footnote in the story of beat boom-era Britain, appearances on archive releases have prevented their name from vanishing.In 1986 “Everybody Knows,” the B-side of their lone single, resurfaced for the first time on the pivotal Searching In The Wilderness compilation album, alongside top-drawer Dutch Sixties bands Golden Earrings, The Outsiders and Q-65, as well as crunching Swedes Namelosers. Originally issued in 1965, “Everybody Knows” stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the best of these hard-edged Euro nuggets.Built around a Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
After the March 1969 UK release of the “Return of Django” single, prospective performers of the song could buy it transcribed as sheet music. On the record, the credit was “Upsetters.” For the sheet music, with its photo of a single person, the credit was “Lee Perry, leader of The Upsetters” (pictured below left). Close to a year on from becoming an independent operator, Perry was already singled-out as the music’s principal aspect. A Phil Spector analogue.Of course, in Perry’s native Jamaica, the sound-system circuit meant those at the controls were as much a focus – and sometimes more so – Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
When the first solo album by Tangerines Dream’s Peter Baumann was released in the US in 1977, its promotion was striking. Press advertising (pictured below left) said “he possesses the infinite vision that has made his group one of the most important contributors to mystagogic lore.”Baumann had joined Tangerine Dream — "his group" — in 1971, and left in late 1977. The album in question, Romance ’76, was recorded in Berlin and Munich in July and August 1976 and first issued in the UK by Virgin Records in February 1977.Discussing the album with NME’s Miles before its release, there Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
Some pointers suggest how Finland’s Shadowplay might sound. They took their name from a Joy Division song. Their key founder member was Brandi Ifgray – born Visa Ruokonen. He had been in the final line-up of first-generation Finnish punk band Ratsia. Add in Shadowplay’s 1988 first album Touch and Glow’s cover version of Gang Of Four’s “Damaged Goods” and that would seem to nail it. Dark then, with the edge of punk.However, the back of Touch and Glow’s sleeve has a picture of the band which includes a trumpet player, someone at an upright piano and a double bassist. The only electric Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
“The Rollin' Stones are probably destined to be the biggest group in the R&B scene if it continues to flourish. They aren't the jazzmen who were doing trad 18 months back and who have converted their act to keep up with the times. They are genuine R&B fanatics.”So said Record Mirror’s Norman Jopling in May 1963 of the band which soon added a “g” to become The Rolling Stones. He went on to point out that “the number of R&B clubs that have [recently] sprung up is nothing short of fantastic.”At the year’s end the R&B-smitten Jopling wrote two articles for Record Mirror, each Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
An Electric Storm opens with “Love Without Sound.” Once heard, it’s unforgettable. A disembodied voice which could be either female or male sings about making love without sound. There are female-sounding squawks and yelps. Revolving percussion sounds like drain pipes being hit by toffee hammers. The other instrumentation is clearly electronically generated. And, it has a tune.It also sounds remarkably similar to what US musical experimentalists The United States of America had come up with on their self-titled March 1968 album. An Electric Storm, credited to White Noise, was British, and was Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
After Sex Pistols have played “New York,” the fourth song in their set, someone from the audience shouts “Anarchy in the U.K.” "We've already played it, you fucking idiot" responds Sid Vicious. They have. It was the first song they did at Kristinehamn’s Club Zebra.The request begs the question of whether the person calling out knew what “Anarchy in the U.K.” sounded like. They may have known of “Anarchy in the U.K.” but not actually heard it. Considering where the particular show was, the information gap is possible.Kristinehamn is a small town about 250km north-west of Sweden’s capital Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
The conundrum central to library music is that it was not meant to be listened to in any normal way. Yet, in time, this is what happened. What ended up on the albums pressed by companies like Bruton, Chappell, De Wolfe and others was heard by subscribers – the records did not end up for sale in shops or on the record players sitting in the nation’s homes.Those receiving this music were from the advertising, film and television industries. They were looking for material which could feature in their productions without the need to book a recording studio and employ an arranger, composer, Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
In April 1985, The Damned’s Dave Vanian was speaking with Janice Long on her BBC Radio 1 show. He said “Barry Ryan and Paul Ryan have been sadly forgotten. Everyone waxes lyrical about Scott Walker which is marvellous but this is absolutely superb. There’s a tension in there, it starts off pretty but it grabs you after a while.”He was introducing Barry Ryan’s 1968 hit “Eloise,” so explosive an orchestral pop record it threatened to obliterate any record player on which it was played. The Damned duly recorded their own version and, after its January 1986 release as a single, it hit number Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
Michael Thevis made his money from pornography. In the Seventies, his Atlanta warehouses were stuffed with most of America’s porn. Nationally, Thevis was the main distributor. Looking for something less edgy to fund with his profits, he turned to the music business and bankrolled the GRC label and its sister imprints Aware and Hotlanta. In time, they became three of America's most lauded soul labels. In parallel, Thevis sealed his reputation as a notorious criminal.Over 1973 to 1975, GRC issued just-over 100 singles – the total seems to be 104. Around 12 albums also appeared in Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
NME’s Paul Morley reviewed Angelic Upstarts’ debut album, the newly reissued Teenage Warning, in August 1979. He pointed out that they were “seen as the successors to Sham 69.”The assessment made sense. Their encore song was a version of Sham's “Borstal Breakout.” Both bands played a reductive punk which was long on musical attack and lyrical howls, and low on finesse. Around the time of Teenage Warning's 1979 release Sham's front-man Jimmy Pursey was busy with J. P. Productions, a concern where he picked up bands, became their producer and placed them with major labels. He took on Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
In 1974, two albums by German kosmiche musicians working with electronics became the first from the seedbed of what’d been dubbed Krautrock to explicitly embrace – and merge – melody and rhythmic structure. One was Kraftwerk’s Autobahn. The other was Cluster’s Zuckerzeit. Once on the record player, each LP instantly made its presence felt more directly than anything either had released previously.For Kraftwerk, this resulted in an unlikely international hit with a single edit of Autobahn’s title track. For Cluster, there were no singles and, consequently, no chance to fluke any chart action. Read more ...